The Art of Reinvention
Reinventing yourself and your brand seems like a recipe for disaster for anyone or anything with a loyal following, yet Taylor Swift has proved to be the exception. Through data and sticking to core beliefs, T-Swizzle proves how to successfully rebrand and come out the other side stronger for it.
As a self-declared ‘Swiftie’ I of course have been listening to the re-release of Taylor Swift’s album Fearless all week. Aside from a few new songs, it is essentially the same album that she released in 2008. It has been 13 years since I first fell in love with that album, and it got me thinking about how is it even possible for the Taylor Swift we know today to go back in time and dig up such an old album and release it as if nothing has changed. Taylor Swift is no stranger to switching genres, changing her sound and ultimately reinventing herself, yet she can re-release an album that came out when I was 11 years-old (!) and everyone is just as obsessed with it as they were back then.
The six new tracks on the re-released Fearless were from back in the day when the album originally came out but never made the final cut on the CD, and when I listen to them they are so consistent with that era that it’s somewhat eerie. I never realized how much Taylor Swift’s music has grown and changed until the 31 year-old version of her released songs written by a 17 year-old.
So how is this possible?
Taylor Swift changes her style, music and essentially her brand, but remains as one of the most powerful people in music. And any company or brand holds the same potential .
Reinventing a brand isn’t something to be done lightly, but it’s also necessary to survive. Updating a brand is all about anticipating customer desires and thinking about what they want before they even realize they want it. As Douglas Holt says in Cultural Strategy, “Time moves forward; social changes inevitably crack the ideological edifice and spur demand from brands that present different ideologies.” Being the leader of an industry isn’t enough when an industry can change so rapidly. Picture this, you’re jamming out to ‘Love Story’ on the radio as you drive to Blockbuster to rent a movie for the weekend. Life is good. Now flash forward, you’re still listening to ‘Love Story’, but this time it’s while Netflix plays in the background. Case in point, Netflix changed the industry and Blockbuster couldn’t adapt fast enough.
Knowing you need to rebrand and executing it are two completely different things, but it’s crucial to follow the data. Leveraging historical data and conducting customer research gives you insight into the consumers’ mind. Find out what they like and don’t like about your brand. Look into what other brands they engage with. Study what kind of pop-culture and industry trends are on the horizon. If Taylor Swift is making the jump from country to pop music, she would want to look at the music tastes and habits or her fans to see if they could get on board with a new sound. If Taylor Swift is changing her style from sparkly dresses to snake-themed set designs, she would want to study other figures who revamped their style in a completely opposite way and gauge the public’s reaction. Going in blind to a rebrand will destroy the loyal following a brand has amassed.
It’s one thing to change logos and color schemes, but the key to a positive rebrand is never losing your ‘why’. Remembering your brand’s conviction and why you started in the first place allows for an easy jumping off point, because if the rebranded ideas or innovations don’t fit with that then it’s not going to fit with your customers. What makes Taylor Swift different from other artists is her ability to tell a story through her lyrics, and through all the different hairstyles, genres and scandals, this fact has remained true. Straying too far from the original goal might bring in new customers, but it will alienate the original ones — somewhere in the mix exists a happy medium.
When I listen to the Fearless album again it sounds so young, but it was the perfect album for when I was young. And when I listen to Taylor Swift’s current albums they feel mature, perfect for the mature (sort of) person I am today. Taylor Swift’s music has grown up as she’s grown and as I’ve grown, just like any brand should. Brand evolution and a rebrand can go hand in hand. Adjusting to a trend doesn’t constitute a complete rebrand, but each small brand evolution is one step closer to a rebrand. When it finally comes time to announce a new brand to the world, no one is shocked or blindsided, so long as it’s a natural progression. I don’t really remember the twists and turns of each new Taylor Swift era, but I listen to Fearless and I realize just how much has changed since then. But regardless of the changes, Taylor Swift is an icon and proof that continually reinventing yourself and your brand is possible.
